International Labor Rights Forum has announced the observance of April 24, 2014, as a Global Day of Action to raise awareness about hazards in the Bangladesh garment industry and to help victims of the tragic Rana Plaza collapse. April 24 is the one-year anniversary of the collapse, which killed at least 1,138 individuals and injured countless others. To date, many victims still await compensation, as do the families of those who died in the incident. While the collapse drew worldwide … [Read more...]
UN peacekeeping, Women on the front lines to End Violence Against Women
May 27, 2013 by
March 2013 – “I know what it means to lose your house, to be looted. To look a child in the eye and say, 'If they come for me, you need to run'," said the newly appointed United Nations Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict. "I know what it means to give testimony and to investigate the documents.” These words came from Zainab Hawa Bangura, former health minister of Sierra Leone and a survivor of that country’s civil war, who has just completed six months in office and is … [Read more...]
Bishnu Maya Pariyar – WOMAN of ACTION™
May 10, 2013 by
A Celebration of Women™ is elated to Celebrate the Life of this brave woman, one born into extreme poverty, and treated as an outcast in her own society. Housing a strong spirit, this powerhouse forged her way through education, walking four hours per day to attend and complete her secondary education, being the first girl in her community to achieve such success. She further achieved more education in the USA, and returned home to work with her local women through an organization … [Read more...]
Bangledesh, Living on new land: Char Development
February 5, 2013 by
The coastlines of Bangladesh are constantly moving. Surveys, based on satellite images, have shown that each year there is a net accretion of around 20 km2: newly formed land of about 52 km2 minus eroded land of around 32 km2. With an assumed density of 800 people per km2, this means that each year approximately 26,000 people lose their land. For many of them, the newly accreted land, or chars, as these new-emerged lands are called in Bangla, offers an alternative home. The Char Development and … [Read more...]
BANGLEDESH: women build better roads
May 20, 2012 by
BANGLEDESH: women build better roads One of the exciting things about training that cuts across divisions is that you get to learn stuff from colleagues with very different experiences of IFAD’s work. The gender training that’s been running this week was an excellent opportunity for this because the sessions I attended involved a lot of group work and discussion, as well as giving guidance and insights on the challenging business of gender mainstreaming. That’s how I learnt that poor … [Read more...]
US Aims to Empower World’s Women Farmers
March 2, 2012 by
U.S. aid officials are launching a new way to measure whether their efforts to empower women farmers are working. Women make up nearly half the agricultural workforce in sub-Saharan Africa and East and Southeast Asia, but women’s farm production tends to lag behind their male counterparts. Women face a number of obstacles that men do not. They tend to own less land and have fewer rights to that land. They have less access to credit and training. And they have less input in … [Read more...]
